A loaf of bread, a bottle of milk, and a pound of common sense… Oops, we’re fresh out of that.

Are we in a recession? I’d say yes.

Are things tough all over? Unless you’re Paris Hilton, I’d say yes. (Although Paris has a set of problems that none of us will ever have to deal with, thank you God.)

Are people losing their jobs, tightening their belts and wondering how they’re going to make ends meet? Yes, yes and yes.

The Today Show, (which, if you keep up with this blog, you know is on every week morning while I drink my coffee…) just ran a segment on people who are needing help from food banks for the first time. The family that was profiled has two parents who work full-time, 3 children (2 of which need daycare, ouch!) and they are homeowners. These are people who have never needed assistance like this before, who are hard-working and productive, but have found themselves in this position due to circumstances beyond their control.

OK. I get it. I understand.

I am a full-time Stay At Home Mom, and my husband works full-time, running his own business. I am familiar with the battle of rising grocery, gas, clothing costs, etc… Man, I feel for ya! It is hard work to keep things going in this economy.

Oh wait a minute… What. The. Hell?

Can we talk? Lets discuss your premature reliance on a food bank.

Hmmm. Looking over the grocery bill under which you say you are being crushed, might I suggest, I don’t know, um, cutting back on the Munchos and Funyons before going on the county dole?

Seriously, look at that register tape. (And yes, I know I just took a picture of the TV, but that is totally different from what Rich did, so shut up, shut up, shut up.)

Chips? Not a necessity.

Fried pork rinds? Should not be eaten in times of plenty, let alone during an economic downtown.

Right in this picture there are 2 bags of empty-calorie chips, 2 frozen pizzas, frozen taquitos and a $5 bottle of juice. I ain’t no math wiz er nuthin’ but I think that comes near to $25 bucks just with those few items.

Pre-packaged anything is almost always more expensive! These shoppers bought packaged, pre-peeled carrots! Buy carrots by the bunch ($0.69) and peel them yourself. You get twice as much for about half the price.

Honestly, if you’re willing to go out of your way to rely on the charity of others and will deal with the inconvenience and embarrassment of standing in line for a food bank, how much more of an inconvenience is it to peel your own damn carrots and see if you can maybe save some money in the process? Perhaps you could avoid the food bank altogether?

Food banks should be for people who are truly in need… People who would be feeding their kids saltine crackers and fruit cocktail if it were not for the food bank. It should not be for people who just don’t have anything good to snack on in the house.

We say that Rich’s job is to earn the money, and that my job is to stretch it as far as it can go. And I am pretty damn good at my job. I look at the grocery ads that come in the mail. I clip coupons. Sometimes I actually end up getting items for free because I pair a sale item with a coupon that gets doubled. We haven’t bought toothpaste in a year because I stock up when things are on sale, (or free.)

I go to my favorite Fresh & Easy store and snap up the things on sale. I take them home and freeze them. (I will admit that I initially rolled my eyes at the vacuum food-sealer Rich got for me, but it is now indispensable.) I have a full standing freezer and another fridge-freezer combo in our garage. I also have another pantry out there, all of which are full.

I have a family of 6. (Devin eats so much that I wonder if he has a tapeworm.) I try to only shop one day a week and each time I go I need to buy 6 gallons of milk and 4 loaves of bread. (That is in addition to the 3 half gallons of Lactaid, which are $4 each.) We go through about a jar and a half of peanut butter each week. Don’t get me started on the fruit and cheese that we need to keep on hand.

The bottom line is this: I plan meals for 6 people, I plan my shopping trips, I am a smart shopper, and my grocery total is about $200 a week. That includes Mommy’s wine. (Also an important staple in our household.) I always save at least 30% when I shop, but it’s often closer to 40%. (I know this because it says so on the bottom of the grocery receipt.)

If I thought things were so bad that I might need assistance from a food bank, you could be sure that I would have gone over my shopping list again and again and again to be sure that there was nothing on there that was of the Funyon variety.

Maybe part of the reason our economy is in this state of being is because people have confused convenience and want, with effort and need.